


Nature Therapy

by wargoddess



Series: Prompts [8]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Fade to Black, Fluff, M/M, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 07:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2539028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wargoddess/pseuds/wargoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the end, and the Normandy's crash-landing on an undeveloped garden world, Kaidan and James go on a hunting trip. A tent is involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nature Therapy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Physical Training](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1910556) by [wargoddess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wargoddess/pseuds/wargoddess). 



> This is a response to a prompt on Tumblr: Kaidan/James, tent sex? Alas, this is just a quick cute thing; no actual sex shown. For that, you might want to first read "Physical Training", the story of how these two got together.

It actually doesn't suck, as planets go. Tropical. Pretty, especially with those two moons up in the sky. And even though it's levo-amino, most of the fauna on it hasn't evolved to nosh on humans -- the bigger ones are mostly freaked out by the sight -- so it's relatively harmless. Relatively.

Joker's preliminary assessment of the engine damage suggests they can fix the Normandy with relative ease, and soon they'll be lifting off to begin the achingly slow grind back toward Earth that will now be space travel sans relays. So things could be worse. But they're going to have to sock away a hell of a lot of levo nutrient paste to last the trip, which is why Kaidan -- Spectre, biotic, one of the most physically and technically advanced representatives of his species -- is out in the middle of nowhere on a hunting-and-gathering trip. Except they haven't actually killed or gathered anything yet.  Instead he's wrestling with an old-fashioned tent while setting up an old-fashioned campsite, and snarling out a few old-fashioned curses over the whole mess.

"Whoa, MM, _nice_. Didn't know you had it in you." The arm that comes over Kaidan's shoulder to take the tangled tent-poles away from him is bare, if one doesn't count tattoos or muscles, and intimidating, if one is easily-intimidated by the kind of man that arm belongs to: a consummate professional killer who very much looks the part. Of course, Kaidan's a killer too, and he isn't easily intimidated, so he sees beyond the muscles and the markings, the too-easy smiles and the silly nicknames. And the youth. It felt wrong for awhile, taking up with a man more than ten years his junior. But no one's young anymore, not after this war, and Kaidan has seen the shadows behind James' smiles and the scars beneath his tattoos. It doesn't feel wrong to be with him anymore.

Helps that James is everything Kaidan is not: gentle, relaxed, kind. Patient. His other arm comes around Kaidan's other side, boxing him in neatly while James carefully untangles the cables and poles, and his warmth and weight is such a welcome pressure against Kaidan's back that he can't help but relax. "Dude," James says into Kaidan's ear. "I've seen you less pissed-off while shooting the eyes out of a Cannibal and levitating a truck, with three Banshees bearing down."

Kaidan lets himself chuckle and lean back against that big chest, one of those heavy shoulders. He knows James can take his weight.  James is a sure thing. "Cannibals and Banshees make _sense_."

"Well, fucked-up Reaper sense, maybe." That's it; the poles are untangled. James starts laying them out in a pattern that will match up to where they need to be positioned. The tent itself is a thermal polymer with a micro-shield generator; once it's up they'll be warm, dry, and safe from kinetic impacts and insects. Getting it up is the problem. "But shit like this makes sense too; you just gotta chill out and think it through. Here, I got this."

And he does have it. He has to move away from Kaidan to finish, which is a shame, but in about three minutes the tent is up and the generator is shimmering and he's taking Kaidan's hand to pull him inside. It's almost casual, but then James is good at almost casual. Just checking out the inside of the tent.  No big deal.

Kaidan lets himself be pulled.  He's smiling, 'cause he knows what James is up to. "Since when did you become the Tent Whisperer?"

James is grinning like a big kid. He knows that Kaidan knows. "Since N2 training on Ontarom. Those tents were a lot shittier than this one. If you didn't use a gentle touch and some patience, they'd fuck up on you."  Maybe he knows what the words _gentle touch and some patience_ do to Kaidan.  Maybe he doesn't.  Sometimes it's hard to tell whether James is being seductive or being oblivious. Just one of his many charms.

"Oh, hey -- " James lifts the flap and looks into the tent, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise. "This one's got a built-in bedroll! Mass effect shock cushioning, mm-mm nice. Whaddaya know." He turns back to Kaidan with big, innocent eyes. "Hey, I, uh, hear those standard-issue shock fields can be kind of buggy. We should make sure it's working, right?"

"Riiiight." It's a cute game, but Kaidan's rapidly losing interest in it. There are better games to play. He moves past James and into the tent, letting go James' hand to strip off his shirt. It's always nice, that look of sudden hunger on James' face.  Nicer still the way the sight of Kaidan silences James' banter, and makes him get very focused, very quickly.  Kaidan likes James' focus. "I think we can give it a test run, or two."

It really doesn't suck, as planets go. Gonna be a shame, when they finally do leave.


End file.
